Saturday, June 2, 2007

Having lived some twenty years in the U.S., I’m still baffled at how strong Sweden is as a brand, whether it is professors or pundits discussing the pros and cons of the welfare state, or designers discussing the cool Scandinavian sense of form. It’s such a little country, and it’s so remote (well, it’s not quite Siberia, and there are no polar bears roaming the streets of Stockholm, but let’s just say that it’s normally not the first stop for a retired American couple going to see Europe...) Still, it’s always mentioned, and mostly for the good of it. It used to be Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Nobel, Swedish cars and steel, but now we also have Swedish chefs, Swedish fashion, IKEA and even alternative energy. How come? This is a question I asked several experts on global branding. You can read their answers in Currents Magazine:

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